Vagus Nerve
I believe there is a strong mind-body connection and am starting to learn the science behind this belief. Before a couple months ago, I had never even heard of the vagus nerve. Since then, I have become fascinated by it and its functions. The vagus nerve is often called the wandering nerve because it extends from your brain stem and touches all of your major organs. It is the mechanism that is responsible for that “gut feeling” we sometimes have and the reason that meditation and yoga practices are effective coping skills. It’s functions explain the correlation between mental and physical health.
I recently learned that vagal tone is passed down from the mother so if a female is experiencing depression, anxiety, distress, etc. during her pregnancy, it results in low vagal tone in the baby. This means that it takes longer to self-soothe as an infant and as an adult, it can take longer for coping skills to be effective as well. The good news is that you can increase your vagal tone by stimulating it consistently. Stimulating this nerve almost instantly reduces your heart rate, and as a result, stress and anxiety. The more often you stimulate the nerve, the faster you can relax after feeling flooded with emotions.
While this may sound complex, it is actually quite simple. Start by taking a deep breath and focusing on the exhale. The goal is to get to 4 second inhales and 8 second exhales. This may be difficult at first so you can start off with 2:4 or 3:6 second breaths. This is most effective if you can dedicate 2-3 minutes to focusing on your breath. If you have a smartwatch, a lot of them have a breathing app already built in. This is an effective coping skill that you can utilize throughout the day, no matter where you are, thanks to the vagus nerve.